Entertainment For Lively Minds
The Phenomenal Handclap Band
Posted by pocket.calculator on 10 March 2010 - 7:49am.
When:
10 March 2010
Where:
Cargo, London, EC1
Comments:
Their self-titled, Summer'09 debut LP having insinuated itself like an inserted hypodermic, it's a surprise to find Williamsburg's finest Mamas and the Papas-meet Dexter Wansel-meets Hawkwind heptet playing at this relatively modest venue. TPHB manage to sound and look like they're from the past, while somehow at once feeling entirely now and next. It's a neat trick that affords their performance an air of familiarity and instant appeal, with little run-up before their almost-evangelical zeal has the place jumping, arms aloft.
The Audience:
Hipsters and hangers-on. Almost comically averse to clapping along despite the band's exaggerated encouragement. Given their name, well... that's Shoreditch for you.
Food & Drink:
Dinner of fish pie and mushy peas, with sticky toffee pudding and clotted cream to follow and several pots of tea at very excellent The Albion on Redchurch Street before the gig. They also do a mean breakfast.
It Made Me Think...:
How happy it made my wife, Lacey, that I dragged her screaming off the couch. She loved the show.








